


Sunflowers Don't Face Each Other

by spaceblue



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Angst, HidexKaneki, Implied touken, Kaneki and Hide, Kaneki x Hide, KenHide, Light Angst, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, One-sided Nagachika Hideyoshi/Kaneki Ken, Shironeki | White-haired Kaneki, Shironeki | White-haired Kaneki Ken, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, TG AU, Tokyo Ghoul Universe, Tokyo Ghoul re Chapter 179, Tokyo Ghoul:Re - Freeform, Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 179, shirokane, slight touken, tg:re, tokyo ghoul re, tokyo ghoul!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceblue/pseuds/spaceblue
Summary: When people are born, they are destined a soulmate.The pair would share a flower tattooed on their body—the design, type of flower and its placement varied from person to person—and reached the peak of its growth when one reached the age of 18.For Hideyoshi Nagachika, it was no different.But when Hide finally checked it properly for the first time in many years, after all the chaos and living in hiding as Scarecrow, the sunflower on the small of Hide's back had died.
Relationships: Fueguchi Hinami & Kirishima Ayato, Fueguchi Hinami/Kirishima Ayato, Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise & Nagachika Hideyoshi, Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise/Nagachika Hideyoshi, Kaneki Ken/Multiple Characters
Comments: 12
Kudos: 111





	1. Past

**Author's Note:**

> A Soulmate Alternate Universe take on Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 179

_“Hideyoshi, come to your new dad!”_

  
_As soon as he saw the child, the man’s face brightened. He stood up from the sofa and opened his arms wide._

  
_It was a first for the child to meet a foster parent in the lounge. They usually did these in the Director’s Office. He wondered why today was different._

  
_At this hour, it was supposed to be TV Time for the kids but instead only Hideyoshi, his inevitable foster dad, along with the caretaker who stood at his side, were the only ones inside the room._

  
_He looked at the man—a table between them—and observed him. From the first glance, he thought that the man looked fairly handsome and tall, much to his surprise._ _His hair went down to his neck and the waves of his bangs reached the bridge of his nose. The abundance of hair didn’t just stop there though—his eyebrows were quite bushy and he had grown long stubble on his face._

  
_Hideyoshi stood in place, unmoving, just staring at the one in front of him._

  
_Under his gaze, he felt the man grow uneasy. Slowly, his arms weakened down to his sides._

  
_He felt a hand being placed on his shoulder._

  
_“Hideyoshi.” The caretaker beside him gave him a disapproving look._

  
_He let his head drop._

  
_“I’m sorry about that, sir. He’s just been through a lot.” She bowed her head._

  
_“Oh, I’m aware.”_

  
_The child raised his head, surprised._

  
_The man returned the bow. “Thank you for taking care of him.”_

  
_“No need to thank me, sir. It’s my job.”_

  
_“Hideyoshi.” He called, trying once more. The sides of his eyes crinkled as a smile formed on his face._

  
_The caretaker took the Hideyoshi’s hand and as they walked toward him, Hideyoshi’s heartbeat grew louder in his ears with each step._

_She let go of his hand. He had opened his arms again for him but the child was stubborn and stopped short instead._

  
_The man was starting to frown again but before Hideyoshi could let out a sigh of relief, the caretaker pushed him, gently, into his arms._

  
_A gasp came out of the child’s mouth. The man caught him and squeezed tightly. Hideyoshi could’ve only braced himself as his own tiny body felt like it was engulfed in his arms._

  
_After what felt like forever, he loosened his embrace around him._

  
_Hideyoshi caught a glimpse of something on the man’s wrist out of the corner of his eyes._ _Was that a flower peeking out from the sleeve of his shirt?_

  
_His brows knotted as he tried to get a better look at it. Oh was that a tattoo?_

  
_“What’s that?”_ _Hideyoshi flinched at the sound of his own voice. He smacked himself in his mind. He hadn’t meant to say it out loud._

  
_The sound of his voice startled the man in front of him too. He clearly hadn’t expected the child to speak. A pleased smile formed on his face._

  
_“Oh this?”—His eyes drifted down and he pulled up the sleeve of his shirt, pointing to his wrist—It’s a tattoo.”_

  
_Hideyoshi nodded knowingly._

  
_It was his first time seeing a flower tattoo so close up and on a person from outside the orphanage. He thought it was just a thing the staff had. But now that he thinks about it, it was weird in the first place._

  
_The flower on his wrist had a honey-colored center and white petals surrounding it._

  
_“It’s a daisy.” The man said before Hideyoshi could even ask anything._

  
_“Why do you all have that? Is it always flowers? Do you choose the flower? Where did it come from? What does it mean?” The child couldn’t stop himself as one by one all of the questions came pouring out of him._

  
_It was a mysterious tattoo that apparently every adult had. Who wouldn’t be intrigued?_

  
_“Woah, woah.” The man laughed and put his hands up in front of him. “Slow down there, buddy.”_

  
_He crouched down to Hideyoshi. Even while he did, his height still showed itself. The man pinched his cheeks. “You’ll have your answers when you’re older.”_

  
_What was that supposed to mean? That only added more question marks in his head, not answers. He couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just tell him what it was. What made it so difficult to explain?_

  
_Hideyoshi only puffed his cheeks and pouted. “At least tell me if I’m gonna have one.”_

  
_The man stood up and brushed any dust off his clothes. He looked at the child, a gleam in his eyes._

  
_He ruffled his hair. “Let’s go home, kid.”_


	2. Days

Hide got out of the shower with a towel around his neck.

  
Hide was already wearing his pants when he got out but he left his top-half bare. He didn’t want his shirt to get wet from his hair.

  
Beads of water had already dripped down his back and spattered to the floor.

  
Outside the window, the weather looked seemingly normal. Clear, bright blue skies. It seemed like the string of strong rains that had been happening for a while had stopped.  
For the first time in a while, he could see the city in the distance.

  
It had been six years since the Dragon War occurred—the battle of the CCG and Nimura Furuta.

  
Till now, it never really stopped feeling surreal to him: seeing how far they’ve come. It was hard to believe the Tokyo in front of him faced so much destruction in the past. 

_Since then the city of Tokyo had changed._

  
He looked down below at the street. One of the things that hadn’t really changed was that Tokyo was still as lively as ever.

  
People swarmed the crosswalk. Their feet moving with a sway of conviction just to get to their destination. Workers carried their briefcases power-walking to the subway on what Hide assumed to be their third or fourth cup of coffee. Probably.

  
Hide made fun of it, he can’t resist. But he would have been lying if he said that it didn’t reassure him on some level.

  
It’s why he stayed in Tokyo even if he really wanted to get a place somewhere closer to the countryside. Away from the noise. He wouldn’t admit that out loud though.  
And he had a job to do. As part of the Tokyo Security Committee to ensure that the city remained safe against the remaining Dragon Oviducts across the wards and other possible threats.

  
But his main priority was traveling the world to shine a light on the United Front and their work and uphold peace.

  
_He changed too._

  
He checked himself in the mirror.

  
The first thing that stuck out about him was his hair. It grew longer again. His dark roots were growing out again and at this rate, it was just gonna keep growing. He still hadn’t decided whether to cut it off and dye it or to finally let the natural hair show through but that was a dilemma for another time. He scrubbed the water out of his hair with a towel.

  
Hide’s eyes drifted down. He couldn’t ever seem to get over his mouth and neck area, or more accurately, the lack of it. _Good joke, Hide._

Actually, with Tokyo's change, its medicine advanced with it. With the help of KImi, other skilled professionals and the new advancements in technology, they managed to remedy his _wound,_ _he guessed he would say._ _Wait, no. Disfiguration._

Hide joked. Well, half-joked but truthfully, he never regretted it. He would never. Sometimes, he just couldn’t help but feel sad about it every once in a while.

They restored most of his throat, so that it looked like it used to be _—_ _with actual skin that is—_ and he could eat almost like normal again. But he had to avoid swallowing too much at the same time and consuming too large food.

For his voice, the more secure path was to do a voice box transplant, which sounds pretty standard but it actually involved getting a voice box from a dead person because obviously no sane person alive would want to give something like that away. Hide knew why. Another freaky thing about it was the cadaver had to have been preserved for an organ to be usable. As much as HIde missed it, the idea of his voice being some poor soul's made him nauseous,

On the other hand The labs had been experimenting into the growth vocal cord tissue with cells from actual human vocal cords too. After implanting, and making sure the body did not reject it, it's said that a controlled amount of RC Cells can be used as an option to speed up the healing process though the latter was still being studied to ensure that there were no red flags. _But even if it was all okay, there was no way in hell he didn't want to get involved in that RC Cell business._ Hide considered getting it and just let it heal naturally.

_It felt appropriate to say it was a miracle but did he even believe in that?_

  
Because his neck was as far as the miracle went. After the problems around his neck area was surface level compared to his mouth that was just a gaping hole in front of him. The doctors tried to bring back some of the skin around his jaw but even with so much innovation in the science, there was still a huge gamble to be taken with transplants and trials for new medicine so there weren't many foolproof choices that weren't present to Hide.

So Hide was left with this. A gaping hole that was his mouth but didn't look anything like it: a big chunk of his teeth were missing, the bottom left part of his mouth was pulled down like a hangnail, and so many other of the things Hide used to have. All the things he was capable of.

  
_Poof!_

  
Gone. Just like that. He lost all of that ability and along with it, all those possibilities.

  
Now all he was left was this unsightly scar on his face.

  
“Can’t talk like I used to. Can’t eat anymore. Can’t even kiss, too. Not that it’s happening soon.” Hide let out a bitter laugh. The robotic voice ringed in his ears. He didn’t even sound like himself.

  
He turned to look at his back. The whites of his eyes grew wide at the sight and he exhaled with a shake.

  
The tattoo of the right-facing sunflower on his lower back had wilted.

* * *

_It was magic to him._

  
_It fascinated him. The first time he saw a small yellow diamond on the small of his back—a “seed.” But the sapling only started sprouting when he was 9 years old. He had no idea what it was gonna be. No one was able to develop technology that could figure out which flower you would get. If his younger self heard that, he probably would be less than happy._

  
_It progressed until it reached the point where the flower was finally beginning to show a clue about what it could’ve been. His back was brightened with vivid green. He couldn’t believe all this started from a tiny mark._

  
_When Hide finally reached college and he saw the reflection in the in front of him, his breath caught in his throat._

  
_It was a sunflower._

  
_Rich and golden and full in its entirety._

  
_He felt his heart swell in his chest. He reached out to touch it, reluctant. It seemed so unreal, so fragile to him. Even so, he could feel the corners of his mouth quirking up till a full smile broke over on his face, complete with eye crinkles and a pleasant fuzzy sensation overtaking him._

  
_He had realized that as he grew, the sunflower grew with him._


	3. Void

_And died with him too._

  
The head of the flower and its petals drooped downward, colored with a sickly grey.

  
“Haaaaa.” All he could do was choke out a sound of disbelief. Hide’s hand shook as he ran it against the tattoo.

  
Without meaning to, a memory popped in his head of a certain kid with jet back hair who stood up in class proudly saying—

  
“—the pair flowers match or connect for the pair of soulmates,” Hide blurted out.

  
 _Agh. Why was he suddenly thinking of that?_ Hide shook his head. But no matter how much he brushed it off, it couldn’t erase the pang he felt in his chest. Like his heart was being twisted over and over again. A lump formed in his throat. How could he let it get this bad? But he knew exactly what he did.

  
“Stop being selfish,” He said to himself.

  
_After all, he had other things to do._

  
Hide put on the black shirt that hung on the chair by the mirror and wore an orange hoodie over it.

  
He put a hand to his face, feeling the scraggly surface that once used to have skin. He grabbed his favorite face mask. It had a simple design: plain white with a big smiley face in the center. Every time Hide looked at it, he felt a little lighter.

  
_Now, that looked better._

  
He slid on his Chuck Taylors and went out the door.

* * *

  
  
Hide stood at the door of a small house with an exterior of wood, painted off-white. Next to him were Ayato and Hinami. He had stumbled upon them by coincidence heading toward the same place. Hinami guessed that Ayato just wanted to see his niece, though the latter denied.

  
They heard voices on the other side of the door. _Seems like they weren’t the first to visit._ He brought his hands to the door and knocked.

  
What greeted them was Renji except his hair was tied into multiple low twintails with purple bows. On his back, a little girl had her arms around his neck. She had mid-length hair that was white with dark roots at the crown. She looked at the trio with her large violet eyes.

  
She was Ichika Kaneki. _His best friend’s daughter._

Even as Hide said it, it never stopped feeling surreal and that sinking feeling returned in his stomach again.

  
Renji let them in. “Uh…” He grumbled. “You guys caught me at a bad time.”

  
 _That’s an understatement._ He stifled a laugh. The cute hairstyle against his naturally rugged face and goatee looked too out of character for him.

  
“Yep.” Ayato and Hide answered in unison.

  
They looked over to a woman who stood by the kitchen sink, gazing out the window.

  
She turned around. “Ah.”

  
“Hide.” The corner of Touka’s mouth quirked up. She had already matured so much in a short span of time. Her hair was in a low bun, long bangs covering the right eye. She wore a white blouse under a deep red sleeveless dress that reached her ankles.

  
_Hide couldn’t help but think that she had grown into such a graceful woman._

  
Touka and Hinami giggled.

  
Ayato was making faces at Ichika but the child just looked at her uncle with her brows furrowed. Renji was next to her, a soft expression crossing his features.  
 _It broke up that ice-cold face of his. In a good way._

  
**CLANG.**

  
The door sounded behind them and inside came another interesting group, to say the least.

  
Saiko, Banjou, Nishiki, Tsukiyama and Urie squeezed through the door.

  
“Dear. Dear.” Tsukiyama said, hands out in front of him. “We just happened to run into each other and—“

  
“—ran into each other!” Saiko beamed.

  
“Yo,” Nishiki greeted, being his usual aloof self.

  
“Shuuu!” Ichika jumped into Tsukiyama’s arms, a wide smile plastered on her face.

  
“Oh, my! Who is this little princess?”—Tsukiyama lifted her up—“She’s grown prettier yet again!”

  
“Don’t drop her.” Nishiki said.

  
“Mama-Wife!” Saiko called as Touka approached. “This is from Mucchan.” She held up a paper bag.

  
Touka took it from her and picked something out. “An apple.”

  
“Our girl loves fruit.” Touka smiled softly. “We’ve got to thank Tooru,”—Touka turned around as she heard footsteps approaching—“Right?”

  
“Oh! Everyone!” Kaneki’s whole face lit up when he saw all the people that had come by. Hide's stomach did somersaults.

  
Once Kaneki had went around and performed the niceties, all the hugs, pats on the back and how are you’s, he met his best friend’s eyes and Hide nodded, a silent agreement between them.

* * *

  
  
“Marude told me to tell you that he needs your help again.” Hide sat down on the roof.

  
_Roofs were their safe place. At least for Hide it was._

  
“Mm.” Kaneki bobbed his head.

  
After suppressing the Dragon threat, Kaneki almost drowned in its bodily fluids but was dragged out by Ayato Kirishima, surviving what otherwise was certain death.  
But it didn’t leave him unscathed. It left a scar running down the bottom of his right eye to the jaw. He returned virtually in pieces and spent two weeks after the operation sleeping. Currently, he worked in collaboration with the TSC and United Front.

  
“You don’t always have to, you know.” Hide said in a low voice.

  
Kaneki sighed. “It’s okay. I want to.”

  
_Silence._

  
“Hide.”—He turned to look at him—“Do the things I said bother you?”

  
The blonde tilted his head.

  
“Even if I’m at peace with what I’ve done, there are most certainly those who are not.” He said with a tone with finality.

  
“You know, I still think about it.” He stared at the city below them; it lived and breathed, an entity of its own. “About whether…this world got better or worse.”

  
“But…”—Hide put his head on his palm—“You still hate being unable to do anything right?”

  
Kaneki turned his head in surprise, mouth twitching.

  
_So predictable._

  
“Sheesh. How many times are you gonna say that? It’s your catchphrase.”

  
A laugh came out of his mouth, whole and genuine. _There was that fuzzy feeling again._ “Come on. I don’t say it that much.”

  
“I know you repeat it to yourself when I’m not around.”

  
“I’ve only said it like, two or three times.”

  
“Really?” Hide asked, even though he didn’t really believe it.

  
“Hmmm. Maybe four.”

  
_It’s moments like these where Hide wished he could stay in it forever. Freeze time. Keep it safe._

  
Both of them sitting next to each other on the roof. Kaneki’s white hair flowing from the breeze, grown longer like his. His eyes looked forward at the city and maybe even the future, with a with a wistful smile on his face. Talking about nothing and everything all at once. Just like old times and without a care in the world.

Only a comfortable warmth between them.

_Home._

  
“Kei.”

  
“Huh?” Kaneki flinched. Hide rarely called him by his first name. Habit, he guessed. Not that it really mattered to both of them anyway.

  
“Is your back alright?” Hide asked out of the blue.

  
A line appeared between Kaneki’s brows, perplexed by Hide’s sudden question but he lifted the back of his sweater nonetheless.

  
Over the years, Kaneki had gotten a bunch of scars and healed bruises on his back from all the fighting, no doubt. There was probably more all over his body as well.

  
There it was: a sunflower that faced the left side.

  
In a similar manner, all the color had completely drained out of it. Its head and petals were sinking.

  
**The other half to Hide’s.**

  
Hide stared at it for a while. He felt his hands itching to touch it, to just throw all of it out the window and say everything he felt. How happy he was that Kaneki was okay. How sad he was that he went through so much pain and agony.

How _angry_ he felt that he wasn't there by his side like he was supposed to be.

But he held himself back. 

  
“So you never found whoever it was.” Hide managed to say, almost inaudible for Kaneki to hear.

  
He let go of his sweater and exhaled. “After all that’s happened, I stopped trusting things that decided my path for me.”

  
Hide stayed quiet. The only thing Kaneki could hear was his breathing.

  
“Besides,” Kaneki added. “I’m happy where I am now. Making my own future.”

  
Kaneki glanced at the sun and a fond look broke over his face. He looked like he was bathing in its warmth. Glowing. Genuine.

_Happy._

  
Kaneki turned to look at his best friend.

  
Against the harsh light, Hide’s expression was inscrutable. He was scratching the side of his cheek. Kaneki could’ve sworn that a sort of pain flitted across his face his features but it was gone as soon as it was arrived.

  
Kaneki shook it off. Maybe he was overthinking things again.

  
Hide’s mouth curved into a grin. His signature one. Even if Kaneki couldn’t see through his mask, he had a feeling it was there. After all, he could see the sides of his eyes fold softly.

  
But Kaneki still couldn’t get rid of the nagging voice in his head that something was not right. He was about to open his mouth but Hide stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes.

  
“Take it easy, okay?”

  
Kaneki got up. “Mm. You too, Hide.” He patted Hide on the back and flashed him one last smile.

  
“‘Kay. See you.”

  
Before he turned around, Kaneki thought he saw his best friend harden at the edges.

  
Then, he walked away.

* * *

  
  
_He never knew._

  
_Of course he didn’t._

_He was planning to. But then his best friend got into an accident, almost died and suddenly there was never any right time._ _Hide never said anything._

_Because he loved him._

  
He left the house, feeling like his feet weighed a hundred pounds.

  
Standing in the field, he saw three people from a distance, standing in a green field, eyes shining as they gazed heavenward at the bright blue sky. Hide thought one almost gleamed in the light, rivaling the sun, and the other two almost appeared as if they were basking in it by their side—a family that was complete and happy.

  
In that moment, he realized he had forgotten something important.

  
**_Sunflowers don’t face each other._ **

  
**_They face the sun._ **


End file.
